There have been no reports of accidents since the late-May fence erection.

file photo by Hawes Spencer

Controversy has erupted again on the Belmont Bridge, and this
time it's bicyclists who might be getting the short end of the
sidewalk, as a new fence– designed as a safety boon– could be
creating a safety hazard.

"That pushes the bicyclists further out out into the traffic," says
safety expert Dean Sicking. "That would be a concern for me."

Sicking explains how the fence,
erected in late May to keep pedestrians from walking over the
Bridge's crumbling eastern sidewalk, has been located so close to
the vehicular lanes that the natural tendency of a passing
bicyclist is to steer away from such an obstacle– and out into
motorized traffic.

Belmont Bridge has two vehicular lanes on its eastern side but no
lanes dedicated exclusively to bicycles. And that's why Sicking,
who directs the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University
of Nebraska, isn't sure the fence was a good idea.

"The concern I would have," says Sicking, "is that it might make a
biker shy away from the fence and be more likely to be hit by a
car."

Researcher Sicking provided safety tips in the wake of a group of
fences built inside tunnels in Boston's "Big Dig." There, the
fences were blamed for deaths and grisly, dismembering injuries
that might not have happened with horizontally-oriented bars.

After a dry winter that brought less than half the average
precipitation, fears of a drought à la 2002 have been averted by a
very wet spring and what's been, to this point, a wetter than
average summer season, according to state climatologist Jerry
Stenger.

Those spring showers "made nothing short of a huge and very
welcome difference," Stenger says, noting that 17 inches fell
between late March and late June, bringing groundwater levels up
from "disturbingly low" to the normal range throughout most of the
area.

With June bringing 90 percent the average precipitation and a
soggy, thunderstormy July hitting 150 percent of average rainfall
at mid-month– measured at the McCormick Observatory– Stenger says
the Charlottesville area ground water is in good shape and overall
rainfall for the year has rebounded to reach 10 percent above
average.

That's not the case in other places around the state, where
rainfall hasn't been so plentiful.

In the Tidewater area, for instance, certain localities have
already implemented water use restrictions to stave off supply
problems, Stenger says, noting they're now "at the mercy of hit or
miss thunderstorms."

But if this area's groundwater's in good shape, there are a few
downsides to the ample rainfall.

"Lawns are overgrowing with reckless abandon, and with plenty of
areas that don't dry out, mold spores are having a field day," says
Stenger, suggesting that rain may actually be somethin...

Hook ad rep Ben Louquet and Joanna Carre, a server/bartender at Fleurie, enjoy a treat at the C&O Restaurant after dinner at TEN. The verdict? Awesome!

Photo by Dave McNair

Charlottesville Restaurant Week kicked off
Monday night with a bang. Over at Brookville
Restaurant, co-owner Jennifer Pendleton,
who'll be marrying her chef-partnerHarrison
Keevil later this year (congrats!), says they "did
awesome, about 50 people, which is great for us on a Monday." Plus,
she says the phone has been "ringing off the hook all day." A lot
of large groups have booked, like 14 and 12 tops, so she says
things are filling up fast. But you might have a chance
Sunday.

Over at the Blue Light Grill,
Bang!, TEN, and the
C&O Restaurant it was the same story.

"There have been calls all day long," says the C&O's
Lindsay Bell, who was managing the packed house on
Monday. "We've had to reserve seats in the Bistro, which are
usually for walk-ins. Sorry, but we're booked for the entire week."
Hey, you never know, give them a call and they might squeeze you
in. Tip: request a late seating.

"We saw people we've never seen before, and a lot of people from
out of town," says Bell. "Where do they hear about this?"

Bell said everyone appeared to be having a good time, though no
one wanted to sit outside on the steamy night.

"The kitchen has got it down now," says Bell. "Everything went
real smooth."...

Ingleside Farm off of Garth Road just west of town. The demolished farmhouse there was renovated by architect Floyd Johnson, but was never documented.

Photo by Stephen Brown / sjb4photos on flickr.com.

This circa 1935 barn, one of several 'grand barns" built along Garth Road, was home to at least one Kentucky Derby winning horse.

Photo by Stephen Brown / sjb4photos on flickr.com.

The Ingleside Farm barn

Photo courtesy K. Edward Lay

1

2

3

It sounds like a joke.

"I tell ya, the county's historic preservation codes are so
weak," the comedian says, "you can apply for a demo permit after
you've demolished your old house." Bada-boom!

But it's no joke.

Recently, when County historic resources planner Margaret
Maliszewski received a demolition permit for the house at Ingleside
Farm on Garth Road, she wanted to save or at least document the
two-story, circa 1938 structure that had been mostly recently
renovated by renowned local architect Floyd Johnson. When
Maliszewski called the contractor to confer about what she thought
was an upcoming demolition, she was informed that the house had
already been taken down.

"We estimate that two or three buildings were demolished in the
past two years before the permit was approved," says
Maliszewski.

And those are the ones they know about.

"We have no system for tracking the number of buildings that are
demolished without permits," she says.

The County's Historic Preservation Committee supports the
documentation of historic structures prior to demolition, and tries
to do as many as they can each year, but when property owners
choose to demo places on their own, there's little the County can
do.

"The Committee was speechless upon learning of its demise," says
committee member Steven Meeks of the Ingleside farmhouse, "because
we had no opportunity to document the structure before it was
destroye...